The exterior surfaces of houses and other structures are often protected by exterior siding products made from wood, vinyl, aluminum, bricks, stucco, fiber-cement, and other materials. Wood and fiber-cement siding products, for example, include panels, planks, and shakes that are “hung” on plywood or composite walls. Although wood siding products are popular, wood siding has several drawbacks. For example, wood siding can become unsightly or even defective due to rotting, warping, or cracking. Wood siding products are also highly flammable and subject to insect damage.
Fiber-cement siding products offer several advantages over other types of siding materials. Fiber-cement siding is a composite material composed of cement, silica sand, cellulose, and binders. To form fiber-cement siding pieces, a liquid fiber-cement composite is rolled or pressed into the shape of the piece and then cured. Fiber-cement siding is advantageous because it is nonflammable, weatherproof, and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. Moreover, fiber-cement siding does not rot, warp, or crack.
One concern with fiber-cement siding pieces is that they are difficult for one person to install because the siding pieces are typically twelve feet long and heavy. Accordingly, installation generally requires one person to hold one end of a piece while another person holds and nails the other end of the piece. To address this concern, tools have been developed to support a siding piece during installation. These tools typically engage the top edge of an underlying piece that is attached to the wall and support the bottom edge of an overlying piece while an individual fastens the overlying piece to the wall. These tools, however, fail to properly align pieces of fiber-cement siding because the pieces are not perfectly straight. More specifically, the width (i.e., the distance between the top and bottom edges) can vary across a fiber-cement siding piece. Thus, portions of the top edge of an underlying piece may be higher on the wall due to a greater width in those portions of the piece. These tools, therefore, may not properly align fiber-cement siding pieces because the position of the overlying piece is based on the position of the top edge of the underlying piece.
Another concern with fiber-cement and other types of siding is that some installers do not properly overlap the overlying and underlying siding pieces. For example, some installers attach siding pieces to the wall with insufficient overlap in order to reduce the number of pieces needed to cover the wall. When siding pieces are installed with insufficient overlap using the blind nail method, the nails in the pieces may be visible. If the installer corrects this problem by nailing the pieces closer to the top edge, the nails can ruin the top edge and the back surface of the pieces may not lay against the front surface of the underlying pieces. Consequently, the overlying piece may rattle in high winds or when windows or doors in the structure are closed. Moreover, wind lift may cause the overlying piece to fail. Additionally, when the nails are too close to the upper edge of an overlying piece of fiber-cement siding, the piece may appear to be warping or buckling even though fiber-cement pieces do not warp or buckle because they are inert. Furthermore, water can pass between insufficiently overlapped siding pieces and damage the wall. Such improperly installed siding can void the warranty and be costly to repair. Therefore, there is a significant need to assist installers in properly attaching siding pieces to structures.